Page 164 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

The Winter of

ISLAM

and the Spring to Come ERITREA - ETHIOPIA

Muslims want peace

and security

W ar and have continued on the

African continent for scores of
years, their ferocity tragically
undiminished. After the colonial powers
such as Britain, France and the Netherlands
withdrew in the 1950s and '60s, most
African countries fell into the hands of com-
munist or fascist dictatorships. Most of these
post-colonial regimes followed a policy of
systematic intimidation of Muslims, and in-
deed are still doing so. One of the countries
where war and have reigned uninterrupted
for many years due to such policies is
Eritrea, which spent nearly two centuries
under Ottoman rule from the middle of the
sixteenth century.